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harvard University 


HAND BOOK 


OF 


THE GERMANIC MUSEUM 


BY 


KUNO FRANCKE 


CURATOR 


THIRD EDITION 


CAMBRIDGE 
Published by the University 
1908 


KRANNERT ART MUSEUM AND 
KINKEAD PAVILION 
University of Illinois 
500 E. Peabody Dr. 
Champaign, IL 61820 


FOREWORD 


HE ultimate aim* of the Germanic Museum of Har- 

vard University is to illustrate by reproductions ¢ of 
typical works of the fine arts and the crafts the development 
of Germanic culture from the first contact of Germanic tribes 
with the civilization of the Roman empire to the present 
day. Its plan, therefore, includes, for the earliest times, as 
full a representation as possible of the modes of habitation 
and dress, the armament, and the religious rites of Germanic 
tribes previous to the Karolingian epoch. Particular empha- 
sis is to be laid within this primitive age upon Frankish, 
Norse, and Anglo-Saxon antiquities. The era of Charle- 
magne and his immediate successors is to be brought to 
view, as far as possible, by reproductions of Karolingian 
art, miniatures, fictile ivories, and architectural works. 
From the tenth century on, 2. e¢., with the development of 
a distinct German nationality, the selection of objects is 


to be limited, in the main, to the Germanic territory included 


* Cf. Kuno Francke, Deutsche Kultur in Amerika und das Germanische 
Museum der Harvard Universitat, in Deutsche Rundschaw (Berlin), April, 
1902, the first presentation of this subject. 

+ This limitation to reproductions has been decided upon, because 
only in this way the restriction of the Museum to really typical works 
can be assured. Wherever possible, these reproductions are to be in 


the full size of the original. 


iV 


in the Holy Roman Empire. The Middle Ages proper 
are to be represented chiefly by works of architecture, sculp- 
ture, and painting, illustrating the development of the 
Romanesque and the Gothic styles; but reproductions of 
mediaeval armament and dress, both ecclesiastical and sec- 
ular, will, if possible, be included. The fifteenth century is 
to be brought to view chiefly by painting and sculpture from 
the Van Eycks to Diirer, Holbein, and Peter Vischer. From 
the Reformation on, the two main divisions of the Museum 
will be devoted to princely art on the one hand, and popular 
art on the other; and an attempt will be made by repro-. 
ducing types of provincial styles, such as the Alemannian, 
the Bavarian, the Saxon farmhouse, and by reproducing 
certain dwellings of striking historical significance, such as 
rooms from the Diirer House at Nurnberg, or rooms from 
the Goethe House at Frankfurt, to bring into a condensed 
conspectus the outward forms of living in a particular epoch 
or a particular territory. The principal schools of sculpture 
and painting from the Renaissance to Rauch and Cornelius 
and their successors are to receive due attention. Con- 
temporary German art also is, as far as possible, to be 
represented. 

This comprehensive plan, the final execution of which 
will probably demand the work of decades to come, has 
thus far led at least to a successful beginning in one or 
two directions. ‘The success of this beginning is largely 
due to the generous interest taken in it by His Majesty 
the German Emperor; and it is fitting that the following 


Vv 


description of the present collections of the Museum should 
be introduced by the expression of sincere and respectful 
gratitude for his splendid gifts. To the officers and mem- 
bers of the Germanic Museum Association, also, and to 
other friends of the Museum, both in America and Europe, 
hearty thanks are due for valuable services rendered to this 
cause. 

The formal opening of the Museum took place on 
November 10, 1903, the date of Schiller’s birth, before an 
audience including delegates from many American colleges 
and universities, and in the presence of a special represen- 
tative of the German Emperor. The principal address 
was delivered by Carl Schurz, the foremost American citizen 
of German blood. 

From November, 1903, to July, 1906, the Museum was 
visited by some 70,000 persons, although it was regularly 
open to the public only on two entire days and two after- 
noons of the week. Lectures on German religious sculp- 
ture of the Middle Ages were given in the Museum by the 
Curator to advanced students in 1903-04 and 1905-06. 


August, 1906. 


The second edition of this Hand-book brings the descrip- 
tion of the collections up to date, 7. és to November, 1907. 
The foremost additions to the Museum made since the first 
edition was published are: the bronze gate of the Cathedral 
of Augsburg, the pulpit and the crucifixion group of Wech- 


selburg, the tomb of Emperor Louis the Bavarian from 


vi 


the Church of Our Lady at Munich, and the relief of 
the Niirnberg Town-Weigher by Adam Kraft. That of 
these gifts, one should have come from His Majesty the 
King of Saxony, another from the Municipal Government 
of the city of Niirnberg, is a fresh and gratifying proof 
of the importance attached to this Museum in Germany. 
The difficulty encountered in placing these monuments 
properly emphasizes anew the necessity of a new and suitable 
building. Indeed, not until the money for such a new 
building has been provided, will it be possible to make 
this Museum truly representative of the history of German 
culture. 

The number of visitors to the Museum has now risen 
above 100,000. During the present winter semester, Professor 
Clemen, of the University of Bonn, is holding a seminary on 
mediaeval German sculpture, in the Museum. I am in- 
debted to Professor Clemen for numerous suggestions in 


preparing this revised edition of the Hand-book. 


Kon: 
November, 1907. 


The only accession made to our collections since the second 
edition of this Hand-book was published is Peter Vischer’s 
Theoderic, described on page 43, a gift of the Bostoner 
Deutsche Gesellschaft. With the installation of this statue 
the limit of placing objects properly in the present museum 
building has been reached. Our work has therefore come 


to an end, unless a new building is provided. 
Koes: 
June, 1908. 


INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 


HE collections of the Germanic Museum, in its 
present shape, may be summed up under three 


principal heads, namely : — 


I. ANTIQUITIES OF THE PRE-KAROLINGIAN PERIOD. 


Il. MoNUMENTAL GERMAN SCULPTURE OF THE MIDDLE 
AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE. 


Ill. German MetaLt WoRK FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 


Although these three divisions differ widely from each 
other, both in number and in importance of the objects 
constituting them, it seems best, in a description of the 
main features of the present collection, to follow the outline 
suggested by this tripartite grouping. 

The numbers in brackets after the different objects refer 
to the numbers attached to the pedestals of the casts. 


a 


sec Pad padi a 


l. ANTIQUITIES OF THE PRE-—KAROLINGIAN 
PERIOD 


a 


THis section contains only a few detached objects, illus- 
trating various phases of life on Germanic territory from 
the Roman invasion to the Merovingian epoch. The 
earliest monument is a series of RELIEFS FROM THE 
Marcus AURELIUS CoLuMN IN Rome [1],* representing 
scenes from the wars of the Romans against the Marco- 
manni (166-180 a.p.). These reliefs, mounted on the wall 
to the right and left of the entrance to the Museum, are 
interesting as historical documents, giving graphic accounts 
of the hostile clash between the Roman and the Germanic 
world in the centuries preceding the age of the Migrations, 
and showing, incidentally, the Roman view of Germanic 
racial type and manner of living. The following scenes 
are represented: embarkation of captive Germanic nobles 
for transport across a river (the Danube?); abduction of 
three fettered Germanic chieftains and two noble youths, 
likewise in chains; trial of prisoners of war before the 
Emperor; execution of a prisoner of war in the presence of 
the Emperor; destruction by fire of a Germanic village, 


* Cf. Eugen Petersen, Alfred von Domaszewski u. A., Die Marcus- 
Sdule auf Piazza Colonna in Rom. Miinchen, 1896. 


4 


and acts of violence done to Germanic women and children. 
In all these scenes, the bodily and mental features of the 
Germanic type are well defined: strongly built, tall figures; 
massive, mane-like beard and hair; dignity and stateliness 
in gait and posture; a striking sincerity in gesture and 
address. The nobles are distinguished from the common 
people by full, freely flowing mantles; princes and people 
alike are distinguished from the Romans by the wearing 
of trousers. ‘The habitations consist of huts, partly round, 
partly rectangular, built apparently of reed and roofed 
with the same material. 

In the middle of the aisle on either side of the Museum 
entrance are placed two figures of heroic size, from the 
Rémisch-Germanisches Museum at Mainz, representing 
a Roman Leaionartus [2] with reproductions of arms 
found in the neighborhood of Mainz, and a FRANKISH 
Warrior [3] of the Merovingian epoch. The former,* 
protected by a leather armor, a helmet of steel and bronze, 
and a wooden shield, and armed with sword, dagger and 
pilum, gives an idea of the equipment of the Roman troops 
that for centuries guarded the limes, or boundary line of 
the Empire, running from the Westerwald near Bonn to 
the Danube near Ratisbon. The latter,t with his spear, 
his missile axe (the francisca), his short, broad knife (the 


* Cf. L. Jacobi, Das Rémerkastell Saalburg (Homburg, 1897), p. 
481 ff. 

+ Cf. L. Lindenschmitt, Handbuch der deutschen Altertumskunde 
(Braunschweig, 1880), I, p. 189 ff. 


5 


scramasax), and his long, broad sword (the spatha), suggests 
the aggressiveness and impetuosity of the hosts through 
whom Clovis subdued the larger part of Middle Europe to 
Merovingian rule. ‘That the shape and ornamentation of 
arms and weapons of the Frankish warrior show both the 
influence of Roman armament and deviation from it, is 
obvious. 

The only specimen of North Germanic antiquities in- 
cluded in the collection is a model of the Nypam Boar [4],* 
in the north wing of the Museum. The original, which is 
of oak and measures 75 feet in length and 104 feet in width 
of the middle part, was dug out in 1863 from a peat bog 
near the village of Nydam on Flensburg harbor, Schleswig- 
holstein, and forms now one of the principal treasures of 
the Museum Vaterlindischer Altertiimer at Kiel. Within 
and about the boat there were found 28 oars, hundreds of 
spears, bows, arrow shafts and arrow points, shield buckles, 
and 34 Roman coins of the years 69-217 a.p. ‘The char- 
acter of the ornaments of the arms and weapons seems to 
point to the fifth century as the time when the boat with 
its contents was left on the strand where it gradually sank 
into the bog. Probably an engagement between some 
hostile tribes had taken place on and off the shore, and the 
victors left part of the booty on the battleground as a thank- 
offering to the gods. It is impossible to assign the boat 
with certainty to a definite tribe. From the fact that it 


* Cf. Sophus Miiller, Nordische Altertumskunde (Strassburg, 1898), 
typ. 137 ff, 


6 


was found near the original seats of the Angli, one might 
feel inclined to conjecture that it is a type of the boats in 
which the Anglo-Saxons in the fifth century crossed over to 
Britain. The position of the rudder on the right-hand side 
of the boat is an illustration of the etymology of the word 
“star-board ”’ (= steering board). 


Il MONUMENTAL GERMAN SCULPTURE 
OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE 


By far the largest part of the Museum is devoted to 
monumental German sculpture of the Romanesque, Gothic, 
and Renaissance periods; indeed, it may be said that there 
are few museums either in America or Europe where this 
phase of the history of German culture is as impressively 
represented as here. Most of the largest casts of these 
monuments were given by His Majesty the German Em- 
peror; many important gifts from American citizens also 
and from princes and governments and other friends of 
the Museum in Germany and Switzerland are included in 
this section. 

The background of this remarkable collection is formed 
by some two hundred large photographs (chiefly from the 
Kgl. Preussische Messbildanstalt at Berlin) of German archi- 
tectural masterpieces from the early Middle Ages to the 
eighteenth century, including views of exteriors and interiors 
of the principal German cathedrals, castles, city halls, 
guild halls, and patrician houses. A model of the Hon- 
KONIGSBURG [5, north wing],* near Schlettstadt in Alsace, 

* Or, more correctly, of the form which the Hohkénigsburg will 


present after the work of restoration, which is now going on, will have 
been completed. 


8 


one of the most perfect types of secular mediaeval archi- 
tecture, is likewise intended as a part of the historical setting 
for the collection of monumental casts. And a similar 
purpose is served by reproductions, in water colors, pho- 
tographs, and colored prints, of a number of Romanesque 

mural paintings from Rhenish churches, Gothic and Renais- 
sance altar pieces, and religious paintings of the Flemish 
school. 

The earliest group of monumental sculptures, exhibited 
in full size reproductions, belongs to the ancient bishopric 
of Hildesheim, where at the beginning of the eleventh 
century, mainly through the efforts of Bishop Bernward 
(992-1022), a remarkable plastic activity was called to life. 
Of the many artistic productions which owe their origin to 
Bernward’s suggestion and initiative,* the Germanic Museum 
possesses the two most important: the Bronze GATES OF 
HILDESHEIM CATHEDRAL [6] and the so-called BERNWARD 
Cotumn [7], both originally belonging to the Church of 
St. Michael. The Bronze Gates, finished in 1015, are the 
earlier work. ‘The eight panels on either wing represent, 
on the left: the fall of man, 7. e., various scenes from Gene- 
sis, beginning with the creation of Eve and ending with the 
curse placed upon Cain; on the right: the redemption of 
man, 2. €., various scenes from the life of Christ, beginning 
with the Annunciation and ending with the appearance of 
the risen Christ before Mary Magdalen. While the influ- 


ence of Byzantine conventionalism is clearly visible in these 


* Cf. Thancmar, Vita Bernwardi, c. 5, 6. 


9 


reliefs, particularly in the arabesque-like forms of plants 
and trees, there is in them also striking evidence of a dia- 
metrically opposed tendency, a crude, but naive, realism 
which above all aims at an unmistakable presentation of 
facts. A similar impression is produced by the spirally 
arranged reliefs of the Bernward Column, representing in 
twenty-eight scenes the life of Christ from the baptism in 
the Jordan to the entry in Jerusalem, with an intermezzo 
of the martyrdom of John the Baptist.* It should, how- 
ever, be added that the grouping in the column is more 
compact and serves better the purpose of an artistic filling 
out of a given space. ‘hat the influence of Roman models, 
such as the Column of ‘Trajan or Marcus Aurelius, is herein 
betrayed, seems indisputable. Originally, the Column was 
crowned by a capital with a superadded cross. It was 
probably completed in the last years of Bernward’s life. 
As is the case with nearly all mediaeval German sculptures 
no name of an artist is attached either to the Cathedral 
Gates or the Bernward Column. 

Considered together, these two Hildesheim monuments 
from the beginning of the eleventh century are remarkable 
as showing essential characteristics of German art from a 
time when German sculpture had not yet been affected by 
French influence. The German genius for homely truth- 
fulness and directness of characterization manifests itself 

* Cf. E. O. Wiecker, Die Bernwardssdéule zu Hildesheim. Hildes- 


heim, 1874. Franz Dibelius, Die- Bernwardstiir zu Hildesheim, in 
Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, LXX XI, Strassburg, 1907. 


10 


in them with a truly childlike simplicity. Crudeness is 
the most palpable quality of this art; but it is a crudeness 
thoroughly wholesome and full of power, and therefore 
refusing to submit to conventional canons. ‘There is noth- 
ing in the art of France of the eleventh century which in 
animation and fulness of life could at all be compared with 
these Hildesheim monuments; and even the best French 
works of the beginning of the twelfth century, such as the 
impressive sculptures of Vézelay and Autun, show a far 
stricter adherence to conventional arrangement of drapery 
and grouping. Nothing could exceed the plainness of 
speech and the instinctive grasp of essentials with which 
the Hildesheim artists tell their tale. How God the Father, 
after the fatal apple bite, appears in the garden of Eden 
calling Adam to account, Adam on his part putting the 
blame upon Eve; how Cain deals the deadly blow to his 
brother; how the Virgin receives reverently and devoutly 
the blessed message of the angel Gabriel; how John the 
Baptist sermonizes to Herod and Herodias, the latter sitting 
in her husband’s lap; how the daughter of Herodias dances 
at the king’s feast — all this is told with a popular homeli- 
ness and freedom from restraint which betray truly indige- 
nous art. All in all, these Hildesheim monuments afford a 
worthy counterpart to the direct and simple manner of German 
religious poetry* of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, pre- | 
vious to the introduction of courtly fashion from France. 


* Compare, e.g., the description of the Creation of Man in the 
Wiener Genesis with the first panel of the Hildesheim Bronze Gates. 


11 


A striking contrast to the reliefs of the Hildesheim gates 
is formed by the panels of the BronzE Door or AuasBuRG 
CATHEDRAL [Ta],* belonging to the fifth or sixth decade 
of the eleventh century. While the Hildesheim reliefs in 
their crude, but vigorous realism give evidence of a decidedly 
indigenous and original North German art in the eleventh 
century, the Augsburg reliefs show unmistakable influence 
of classical tradition. ‘Their technique approaches the 
finely chiselled forms of the silversmith’s work; the types 
represented in them betray affinity with types not uncom- 
mon in Byzantine and Italian ivory tablets. ‘There are 
altogether thirty-five panels, each of them containing some 
representation of sacred legend, secular allegory, or mytho- 
logical symbolism. The fact that not a few of these scenes, 
— such as a manna gatherer, Samson tearing the mouth of 
a lion, Samson striking the Philistines with the jawbone 
of an ass, shooting Centaurs, a woman feeding chickens, 
and others — appear in more than one panel, makes it 
clear that the door in its present form has been welded to- 
gether out of two separate doors, and that the original 
arrangement of the panels has been destroyed. A satis- 
factory interpretation of the composition as a whole has not 
yet been given. 

Most of the German plastic work from the height of the 


Middle Ages shows distinct traces of French manner. In 


* Cf. G. Karch, Die Rétselbilder von der Bronzetiir der Domkirche 
zu Augsburg, Augsburg, 1869. -J. Merz, Die Bildwerke an der Erztiire 
des Augsburger Doms, Stuttgart, 1885. 


12 


the Golden Gate of Freiberg, in the Founders’ Statues and 
the Rood Screen of Naumburg, in the sculptures of Bam- 
berg and Strassburg, this influence is clearly discerned; as. 
clearly as the influence of French models is to be seen in 
the great German court-epics, such as Wolfram’s Parzival 
or Gottfried’s Tristan, and in the courtly German minne- 
song. In the drapery, in the arrangement of the hair, in 
facial expression, in peculiarities of bearing and gesture, all 
these monuments show a decided affinity to the French 
type, a clear adaptation to a common standard of decorum. 
Yet even here it would be a mistake to think of the German 
work merely as a copy of the French. Over and over again, 
the German individuality asserts itself and gives to these 
creations their own peculiar life.* 

We shall now consider the principal representatives, in 
the Germanic Museum, of this fully developed German 
plastic art from the end of the twelfth to the end of the thir- 
teenth century, — the Classic Epoch, as it may be called, 
of German mediaeval sculpture. 

The least admixture of French elements during this 
epoch is found in North German monuments. Of these, 
some of the finest specimens are exhibited in the Museum, 
namely, the Choir Screen of St. Michael’s at Hildesheim, 
the Baptismal Font of Hildesheim Cathedral, the Tomb 
of Henry the Lion at Braunschweig, the Wechselburg 


* Cf. G. Dehio, Ueber den Hinfluss der franzdsischen auj die deutsche 
Kunst im XIII. Jahrhundert, in Historische Zeitschrift, Vol. LXXXVI 
(1901), p. 398 ff. 


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13 


Pulpit and Crucifixion Group, the Freiberg Golden Gate, 
and the Naumburg Portrait Statues and Rood Screen. 
The CHorr SCREEN OF THE CHURCH OF St. MICHAEL 
at Hi_pEsHEIM [8], mounted on the wall of the north aisle 
of the Museum, belongs probably to the end of the twelfth 
century.* It is a beautiful example of Romanesque stucco 
work, which seems to have been not uncommon at that 
time in the region between the Harz mountains and Thur- 
ingia. The reliefs of the lower part are framed by seven 
arches supported by Romanesque pillars. In the middle 
arch, distinguished from the others by its clover-leaf shape, 
stands the Virgin with the Christ-child on her right arm, 
her head reverently bending toward it. ‘The child playfully 
reaches out with its left hand for Mary’s chin, and the left 
hand of the mother instinctively follows this motion. A 
charming mixture of solemnity and grace characterizes this 
group. ‘The three arches on either side contain the stand- 
ing figures of altogether six apostles and saintly bishops, 
all of them remarkable for dignity and seriousness of bear- 
ing. Fantastic architectural vistas between and above the — 
seven arches suggest a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem. 
Above this, there is a frieze combining in weird profusion 
arabesque-like designs with grotesque forms of fabulous 
beasts and monsters. And on top of this frieze there runs, 
as a crowning entablature of the whole screen, an open 
gallery of twelve low arches, supported by thirteen little 
columns, on the capitals of each of which there sits an angel 


* The church was dedicated in 1186. 


14 


with spreading wings, so that a continuous line of wings 
touching each other is formed above the arches. The 
whole monument is a striking proof of the great advance 
in mastery of form and refinement of expression that had 
been made in North German art since the days of Bishop 
Bernward.* 

The BaprismaL Font or HiLDESHEIM CATHEDRAL [9],f 
belonging to the first decades of the thirteenth century, is 
in regard to technique one of the finest specimens of bronze 
work in the period of transition from the Romanesque to 
the Gothic style; as to the subject matter of its plastic orna- 
ments, it illustrates in a remarkable way the wealth of sym- 
bolism characteristic of the best in mediaeval art. All 
the decorative work which in great profusion spreads both 
over the bowl and the cover of the font, is expressive in 
one way or another of the ablution from sin and of inner 
purification. This is, in the first place, the meaning of 
the four kneeling figures, each pouring water from an urn, 
on which the whole structure rests, the four rivers of Para- 
dise: Tigris, represented as a knight; Phison, a bearded 
man with serious face; Euphrates, lifting his urn with both 
hands; Geon, a naked youth of remarkable freedom of 
carriage. From each of these figures, vertical ornaments 
run upwards over the surface of the bowl and the cover, 

* The central motif of this composition, the grouping of the apostles 
around a middle figure, reaches its height about 1200 in. the choir 
screens of the Church of Our Lady in Halberstadt. 


+ Cf. A. Bertram, Das eherne Taujfbecken.im Dom zu Hildesheim. 
Hildesheim, 1900. 


RAR SRE 


/ 


err, 


* 


‘ 
om 


15 


connecting the four rivers of Paradise in the first place 
with the four cardinal virtues, Fortitude (corresponding to 
Tigris), Prudence (corresponding to Phison), Justice (corre- 
sponding to Euphrates), and ‘Temperance (corresponding 
to Geon); next with the four Evangelists; and finally with 
four Prophets. ‘Through these four vertical lines of plastic 
ornament a framework is formed for eight large reliefs 
filling the whole surface of bowl and cover, all of them 
symbolic of spiritual regeneration: (1) Christ’s Baptism in 
the Jordan; (2) the Passage of the Jews through the Red 
Sea; (3) the Passage of the Jews through the Jordan; (4) 
the Slaughter of the Innocents (baptism by blood); (5) 
Mary Magdalen at Christ’s feet (baptism of tears); (6) the 
Six Works of Christian Charity; (7) the Virgin enthroned 
between Saints; (8) the Rod of Aaron sprouting on the 
altar. ‘The arrangement of these scenes and their inter- 
play, as well as the characterization of individual figures, 
are admirable. 

The WeEcHSELBURG PuLpit [10] and Crucirrxton Group 
[11] are among the finest specimens of the fully developed 
Romanesque style of German sculpture in the early thir- 
teenth century.* Both pulpit and crucifixion group were 
originally part of the rood screen separating the transept 
from the choir. In the reliefs of the pulpit — Christ as 
Judge of the World, the sacrifice of Isaac, and the healing 


* Count Dedo, the founder of the church, died 1190. The comple- 
tion of the rood screen, to which these sculptures belonged, took place 
probably between 1210 and 1220. 


16 


of the Jews by the brazen serpent — it seems as though the 
artist was still grappling with the problem of form. In the 
majestic figure of Christ himself, seated on the throne, 
surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists, he has indeed 
attained to mastery of form, to classic solemnity, exalted 
repose. In the more animated scenes of the sacrifice of 
Isaac and the healing of the Jews, there is a curious con- 
trast between grandeur and awkwardness, sweetness of 
feeling and naive naturalism. A similar contrast is found 
in the Crucifixion Group. ‘The figures of Mary and John 
standing under the cross, as well as that of Joseph of Arima- 
thea holding out the cup to receive the blood of the Saviour, 
are remarkable for nobility of outline, depth of feeling, and 
measured beauty of expression. ‘There is a fine sweep in 
the two angels on the cross beam, gentle sadness in the 
figure of Christ, and a mild tenderness in the attitude of 
God the Father appearing above. ‘The symbolical figures, 
however, — probably Jewdom and Pagandom, — on which 
Mary and John are standing, are tortuous and forced. ‘The 
material of the Pulpit is sandstone, that of the Crucifixion 
Group oakwood. 

The GoLDEN GATE OF THE CATHEDRAL OF FREIBERG 
IN Saxony [12],* placed on the west side of the central 

* The traditional name of ‘‘Golden Gate,” perhaps going back to 
the Porta Aurea in the palace of the emperor Diocletian at Spalato, 
and occurring in connection with several mediaeval churches, refers 
to the wealth and splendor of architectural design and, possibly, to 
the bright effect produced by the gilding of a part of the sculptures, 


such as crowns, sceptres, halos, the borders of garments, etc. The 
material of the portal is sandstone. 


17 


octagon of the Museum, marks the climax of Romanesque 
architectural sculpture of the thirteenth century. In the 
arrangement of plastic figures both on the sides of the portal 
and on the archivolts, French influence is clearly seen. But 
the plastic figures seem here much more independent of 
the architectural framework than is common in the French 
sculptures which served as models to the German artist; 
and the human type and bodily proportions are unmistak- 
ably original. 

A thoroughly satisfactory interpretation of all the figures, 
human, animal and fantastic, which cover the sides of the 
portal, the tympanum and the archivolts, and of the funda- 
mental conception underlying them, has not yet been given, 
although Anton Springer* has done a great deal for the 
identification of individual personages. Springer thinks 
that the fundamental conception of the whole is the mystic 
marriage between Christ and the Church, and that all the 
scenes and figures of the portal may be interpreted as sym- 
bolic of this mystic idea. Simpler and more plausible it 
would seem to find in this portal a plastic counterpart to 
dramatic scenes from the cycle of the Christmas plays, the 
popularity of which in the thirteenth century is proven, for 
Germany, by a particularly complete example, the Bene- 
diktbeuren Christmas Play. Clearly a scene from the Christ- 

* Cf. A. Springer, Ueber die Quellen der Kunstdarstellungen im Mit- 
telalter, in Berichte der Sdchsischen Gesellschaft der Wéissenschajten 
(Leipzig, 1879), XX XI, p. 1 ff. 


Also, Freiherr von Mansberg, Daz hohe liet von der maget. Symbolik 
der Skulpturen der Goldenen Pjorte. Dresden, 1888. 


18 


mas cycle is the one represented in the tympanum of the 
portal: the Adoration of the Magi, the three kings approach- 
ing from the left, Mary with the child enthroned in the 
middle, the archangel Gabriel and Joseph at the right. 
And no less plausibly than this scene may the eight some- 
what under life-size figures which flank both sides of the 
portal be connected with the subject of the Christmas plays. 
Prophet and Sibyl scenes, as Sepet * has shown, were very 
frequently used as introducing the Nativity play proper, 
one prophet or Sibyl after another entering to testify to the 
coming of the Saviour. While retaining most of the names 
suggested by Springer for these eight figures, we may call 
them collectively witnesses to Christ’s Nativity. ‘The oppo- 
site figures in most cases correspond to each other. Begin- 
ning from the door itself, we have on the left (from the spec- 
tator) John the Baptist, opposite him on the right John the 
Evangelist. Next there are seen on the left King Solomon, 
on the right King David. ‘There follow two female figures 
opposite each other, called by Springer the Queen of Sheba, 
and Bathseba; but the scroll in the hand of each might 
justify the conjecture that they are intended as Sibyls.7 
The outside pair are unquestionably Daniel on the left, 
Aaron on the right, forming a fine contrast of youth and 


old age. 


* Marius Sepet, Les Prophétes du Christ, in Bibliotheque de l’école 
des chartes (Paris, 1877), XX XVIII, p. 397 ff. Cf. E. Male, L’Art Rels 
gieux au XIII. Siecle, Paris, 1904. 

+ Possibly they might be Jewdom and Pagandom. 


19 


As to the plastic representations on the four archivolts 
encircling the tympanum, they are, to be sure, not taken 
from any actual scene of a Christmas play; but they are 
entirely in keeping with the joyous, idyllic character of these 
plays. On the innermost archivolt, nearest to the Adora-. 
tion of the Magi, there are at the sides the four archangels, 
in worshipful attitude; in the middle, the Coronation of 
Mary by Christ. ‘The next archivolt contains six apostles, 
three at each side, and in the centre Abraham with a soul 
of the blessed in his lap, while an angel reaches out another 
soul toward him. ‘The third archivolt shows eight figures 
of apostles * and in the centre the dove of the Holy Ghost 
surrounded by angels. On the outermost archivolt, finally, 
the resurrection of the flesh is represented by ten figures 
rising from their graves with manifoldly varying expressions 
of faith, hope, and exultation; while the central group, an 
angel receiving by either hand a saved soul, fittingly sym- 
bolizes the last and highest stage of human redemption. 
All these sculptures, as well as those of the tympanum and 
the sides of the portal, are distinguished by a remarkable 
symmetry and adjustment to architectural demands, and 


by a wonderful mellowness and purity of form and an extra- 


* Fourteen apostles, including Matthias (who was chosen in place 
of Judas), Paulus, and Barnabas, are represented in other mediaeval 
monuments also, e.g., in the Adoration of the Lamb, the centerpiece 
of the altar triptych at Ghent by the brothers van Eyck. The remarks 
of Hasak, Geschichte der deutschen Bildhauerkunst im XIII. Jahrhun- 
dert (Berlin, 1899), p. 26 f., about the figures in these two archivolts, 
are wide from the mark. 


20 


ordinary sweetness and serenity of expression, making an 
artistic whole of unsurpassed beauty and perfection. 

The Toms or Henry THE Lion, DUKE oF Saxony, 
AND HIS Wire Maruirpis [12a],* from Braunschweig 
Cathedral, placed in the east transept of the Museum, is 
perhaps the finest of all German sepulchral monuments 
of the thirteenth century. The figures of the great Welfish 
adversary of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his Plan- 
tagenet spouse, a daughter of King Henry II of England, are 
resting side by side, their heads supported by cushions, their 
feet placed against consoles of early Gothic design. ‘The 
duke holds in his right arm a model of Braunschweig Cathe- 
dral, his foundation, in the left his sword wound around 
with its hangings; the duchess holds her hands folded in 
prayer under her chin. In the faces of both there is a 
wonderful blending of the ideal human type with the char- 
acteristic features of a portrait, reminding one of the best 
manner of Greek sepulchral sculpture. Indeed, one might 
say that one such monument as this would be sufficient to 
demonstrate the noble and free conception of humanity 
reached by mediaeval civilization at its height. ‘The only 
artistic defect in these figures is a curious contrast in the 
folds of the drapery between the upper and the lower half 
of the bodies. From the shoulders to the waist the drapery 
is treated as belonging to a standing person; from the waist 
to the feet the drapery suggests, in part at least, a lying 


* Henry the Lion died 1195, his wife 1189. The tomb was probably 
not completed before 1225. 


21 


figure. ‘This contrast, which is very common in mediaeval 
sepulchral monuments, may perhaps be explained by he 
fact that sepulchral slabs, although for the most part placed 
horizontally on tombs, were sometimes immured vertically 
on the walls of the church. ‘The material of this tomb is 
sandstone. 

The Portrair STATUES OF FOUNDERS AND PATRONS 
oF NAUMBURG CATHEDRAL [12bcd, 13], from the west choir 
of that church, may be definitely assigned to the middle of 
the thirteenth century.* ‘These statues, together with that 
of a young Eccuiestastic [14] from the same church, are a 
striking refutation of what since Jacob Burckhardt’s “ Kul- 
tur der Renaissance in Italien’ has come to be a popular 
axiom, the assumption, namely, that modern individualism 
had its origin in the era of the rinascimento; they show con- 
clusively that Burckhardt’s phrase of “the discovery of 
the individual” by the great Italians of the quatro-cento 
is misleading, that, in other words, the Middle Ages them- 
selves contain the germs of modern individualism. ‘There 
is nothing in the art of the Renaissance which surpasses 
these Naumburg statues in fulness, distinctness, and vigor 
of individual life. Every one of these figures is a type by 
itself, a fully rounded personality. ‘The two pairs of princely 
husband and wife [12b], one of the men full of power and 
determination, the other of youthfully sanguine appearance, © 

* Cf. the edict of Bishop Dietrich of Naumburg from 1249, printed 
in Hasak, l.c., p. 68. 


Lack of space unfortunately has made it necessary to scatter these 


statues through the Museum. 


22 


one of the women broadly smiling, the other, with a gesture 
full of reserved dignity, drawing her garment to her face; 
the canoness [12c] standing erect, but with slightly inclined 
head, thoughtfully gazing down upon a book which she 
supports with one hand while the other turns over its leaves; 
the princess [12d] drawing her mantle about her; the young 
ecclecsiastic [14], with his carefully arranged hair flowing 
from his tonsure, holding the missal in front of him; the 
various knights [13], one looking out from behind his shield, 
another leaning upon his sword, a third resting both shield 
and sword in front of him on the ground, while with his 
right hand he gathers his mantle about his neck, others in 
still different postures and moods, — there is not a figure 
among them which did not represent a particular individual 
at a particular moment, and which did not, without losing 
itself in capricious imitation of accidental trifles, reproduce 
life as it is. It is impossible in the face of such works of 
sculpture as these not to feel that they proceeded from artists 
deeply versed in the study of human character, fully alive 
to the problems of human conduct, keenly sensitive to im- 
pressions of any sort,—in other words, fully developed, 
highly organized, complicated individuals. One feels that 
here are seen the mature artistic fruits of the great Hohen- 
staufen epoch,—an epoch rent by tremendous conflicts 
in church and state, and convulsed by the throes of a new 
intellectual and spiritual birth.* 


* Cf. Kuno Francke, The Inner Lije in German Sculpture in German 
Ideals of Today, Boston, 1907. It is worth while to note that the 


23 


Almost contemporary with these statues, though probably 
somewhat younger, is the NaumsurG Roop Screen [15] 
separating the west choir of the Cathedral from the nave. 
The sculptures of this rood screen form an interesting con- 
trast to the sculptures of the Freiberg Golden Gate, opposite 
which it has been mounted in the Museum. While the 
Freiberg sculptures present a plastic counterpart to the 
mediaeval Christmas plays, we have in the Naumburg rood 
screen a plastic counterpart to the Passion plays. On the 
middle beam of the door leading through the screen, which 
has the shape of a cross, the figure of the dying Saviour is 
suspended, while on each side of the door there stand in 
niches the over life-size figures of Mary and John. The 
other scenes of the Passion, from the Last Supper to the 
Bearing of the Cross, are brought to view in high reliefs 
which as a continuous frieze, crowned by a Gothic canopy, 
give to the whole structure a most impressive attic-like top. 
These sculptures seem to mark a stage of development 
somewhat beyond that reached by the Naumburg portrait 
statues. ‘They are signalized by intense dramatic power. 


Some of the scenes of the frieze * in particular impress one 


first great epoch of monumental German sculpture from the Hildes- 
heim Gates to the Naumburg Portrait Statues antedates by far the 
revival of Italian sculpture, marked by the epoch-making activity of 
the Pisani (about 1260). 

* They are in order of sequence from left to right: The Last Supper; 
the Selling of Christ; the Kiss of Betrayal and the Malchus scene; 
Pilate’s Washing of his Hands; the Flagellation; the Bearing of the 
Cross. The last two are restorations, belonging to the end of the 16th 


24 


as direct transpositions into stone of scenes from the Passion 
Play stage. ‘They excel even the portrait statues in free- 
dom and sweep of movement and in keenness of realistic 
characterization. On the other hand, they show a tendency 
toward exaggeration, which occasionally (as in John and 
Mary) leads to a strained and distorted expression of feel- 
ing; and, in the portrayal of the vulgar and the common- 
place, they occasionally (as in the representatives of the 
Jewish rabble) diverge into caricature. They are, then, 
clear anticipations of the ultra-naturalistic, and therefore 


unnatural tendency of later Gothic sculpture. — 


With these Naumburg sculptures we have reached the 
limit of North German plastic art of the classic epoch of 
the Middle Ages as far as it is represented in the Germanic 
Museum. South German art of the same epoch is much 
less fully represented; indeed, only a few important. speci- 
mens from Bamberg, Trier, and Strassburg are exhibited. 

BAMBERG CATHEDRAL is a particularly rich storehouse of 
Romanesque sculpture, from its early stage in the twelfth 
century to its fullest growth in the middle of the thirteenth. 
Some characteristic monuments of this development are 
here reproduced. Perhaps the earliest is a part of the 
SCREEN OF THE East Cuorr [16], showing two Prophets 


or the beginning of the 17th century. Unfortunately, on account of 
lack of space, two of these scenes, the Selling of Christ and the Flagel- 
lation, had to be placed separately from the rest in the east transept 
of the Museum. 


25 


conversing with each other. ‘This relief, as indeed the 
whole series of similar groups covering both screens of the 
east choir, presents a curious mixture of archaic constraint 
and conyentionalism with a freer movement and individual 
animation. ‘The attitude of the two Prophets, the one pre- 
ceding the other and turning back to him in conversation, 
is decidedly awkward; in the figure at the right, in partic- 
ular, the body and the lower limbs do not seem to be on the 
same axis. Both hair and garments are treated very con- 
ventionally. On the other hand, there is an extraordinary 
life in gesture, pose of the heads and facial expression. 
Artur Weese * has made it probable that both in subject- 
matter and in manner of presentation these reliefs go back 
to the art of France, where in the twelfth century such 
groups of conversing prophets and apostles were very com- 
mon. Decidedly French in style are TwEeLtve ApostTLEs 
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF PROPHETS, on the sides 
of the north portal of Bamberg Cathedral, of which the 
Germanic Museum possesses only one pair [17]. There 
are found here the same archaic solemnity and austerity of 
motion and, contrasting with this, the same eagerness for 
portrayal of individual feeling. In the types of the heads, 
however, there seems to show itself a greater readiness to 


accept a normal standard of dignity and beautiful form. 


* A. Weese, Die Bamberger Domskulpturen. Strassburg, 1897. 
Cf. K. Franck-Oberaspach, Zum Eindringen der franzésischen Gotik in 
die deutsche Sculptur in Repertorium ftir Kunstwissenschajt, XXII, 
D..1007 A ALLL, p, 24: 


26 


Quite different from these works, and much more nearly 
approaching the noble realism of the Naumburg portrait 
sculptures, are six life-size statues flanking one of the east 
portals and six others arranged in front of the north screen 
of the east choir, all of them probably executed about 1237, 
the year of the consecration of the cathedral. Of these, the 
Germanic Museum contains three: Emperor Henry II 
[18], Empress KuNIGUNDE [19], and the so-called Srpyt, 
more correctly to be designated as ELISABETH, THE MOTHER 
OF JOHN [20], belonging to a scene of the Visztatio. ‘That 
these statues are adaptations from French models in Rheims 
Cathedral seems beyond dispute;* but it seems equally 
clear that they are not slavish imitations, but re-creations 
having their own independent life, worthy counterparts on 
the German side to the great creations of the French school. 
The statue of Emperor Henry has several prototypes in 
Rheims; but it is not copied directly from any of them, and 
it is superior to most of them in noble dignity and serious- 
ness. As to the Empress Kunigunde, no distinct model 
of French origin seems to have been traced as yet;} and 
although the general character of drapery, hair, and head- 
dress suggests a French source, one feels inclined to ascribe 
the facial type and the peculiar, awkwardly naive gesture 
of the left hand to German influence. As patron saint of 


* Cf. Weese, J. c., pp. 89-101. 

+ The Queen of Sheba of Rheims Cathedral, which Weese and 
Dehio consider its prototype, is essentially different from the Bamberg 
statue. 


27 


Bamberg Cathedral, she carries a model of the church in 
the other hand. Elisabeth, finally, has a clear prototype 
in a well known statue of Rheims Cathedral. Compared 
with her French ancestress, the German Mother of John 
is lacking in grace and matronly gentleness; but she is dis- 
tinguished by austere dignity and a well nigh superhuman 
grandeur. It is the prophetess, the mystic seer, which her 
ascetic, almost uncanny features bespeak; and the name 
“Sibyl,” by which she was formerly known, designates her 
character perhaps even better than the more correct name 
now generally accepted. ‘That she is imdeed Elisabeth, 
and not a Sibyl, is made evident by the fact that she stands 
at Bamberg as well as at Rheims next to Mary, the two 
women together representing the scene of the Visitation. 

An interesting monument of the transition from Roman- 
esque to Gothic manner is the small Norra Porta or 
THE CHuRCH OF OuR Lapy AT TRIER (T'réves), mounted 
on the wall of the inner octagon of the Museum. It belongs 
to the middle of the thirteenth century [21]. This church 
is the oldest church in‘ Germany of predominantly Gothic 
forms; only in the portals the architect still makes conces- 
sions to Romanesque designs. Wonderfully delicate is the 
leaf ornament of the archivolts; the relief of the tympanum, 
representing the Coronation of Mary, shows unmistakably 


French influence.* 


* The church was built after the model of the church of St. Yved 
de Braisne near Soissons. 


28 


In STRASSBURG CATHEDRAL,* also, the transition from 
Romanesque to Gothic style is clearly discernible. ‘The 
east choir and the transept, executed in the main during 
the last decades of the twelfth century and the first decades 
of the thirteenth, are still prevailingly Romanesque, although 
with Gothic additions; the main body of the church, the 
nave with its two side aisles, was carried out in the decades 
preceding the year 1275 in fully developed Gothic style; 
from 1277 on, Master Erwin von Steinbach added the noble 
west facade; the work on the towers was carried on until 
toward the middle of the fifteenth century. ‘The Germanic 
Museum possesses a number of sculptures illustrating 
various phases of the history of this masterpiece of German 
architecture. ‘They are placed partly in the south aisle, 
partly in the east transept of the Museum. 

The earliest are the Death of Mary, from a tympanum 
of the double gate of the Romanesque south portal of the 
transept, and the statues of Ecclesia and Synagoga, flanking 
the sides of this portal. The Dears or Mary [22] is one 
of the noblest creations in the whole history of art. The 
Virgin is represented reclining on a couch, wrapped in a _ 
garment which reveals with rare delicacy the lines of her 
body. Her face is majestic, Juno-like. Although the 
moment represented is after her death, her eyes are still 
open and have a look of heavenly exaltation. Behind her 
couch, in the middle of the tympanum, stands Christ, hold-— 


* Cf. E. Meyer-Altona, Die Skulpturen des Strassburger Miinsters. 
Strassburg, 1894. 


29 


ing Mary’s soul (in the form of an infant)* in his left hand, 
his right hand raised in blessing. Mary Magdalen cowers 
in front of the couch, wringing her hands, her face express- 
ing deepest sorrow. ‘T'he space at the sides and back of 
the death bed is filled with the figures of the Disciples, some 
of them giving way to grief, others contemplative, others 
transfigured, all of them filled with holy awe and deep 
religious feeling. ‘lhe graceful vine which runs along the 
edge of the Romanesque arch of the tympanum gives to 
the whole composition a fitting enclosure. In this monu- 
ment the French sense of form and German feeling seem 
most happily blended. 

Of no less refinement are the statues of Ecciesia [23] 
and Synacoca [24]. To contrast the Church triumphant 
and the Synagogue defeated was a very common conception 
both in the religious sculpture and in the religious drama 
of the Middle Ages.t| Noteworthy instances of their occur- 
rence in sculpture are the statues of Rheims Cathedral, 
the north portal of Bamberg Cathedral, and the vestibule 
of the Cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau; t{ of their intro- 


* In the first Christian centuries there occur representations of 
the soul in the form of a young woman (cf. F. X. Kraus, Realency- 
klopaedie der christlichen Altertiimer, Il, p. 286); possibly in adaptation 
from the Greek Psyche (cf. Erwin Rohde, Psyche (3 Aufl. 1903), I, 
p. 244). In the Middle Ages the infant symbol is the prevailing one. 
A famous instance of this latter representation is Orcagna’s. Triumph 
of Death in the Campo Santo at Pisa. 

+ Cf. Paul Weber, Gevstliches Schauspiel und Kirchliche Kunst. 
Stuttgart, 1894. 

t Cf. K. Moriz-Eichborn, Der Skulpturencyklus in der Vorhalle des 
Freiburger Mimsters. Strassburg, 1899. 


30 


duction into the drama, the part played by them in the 
Ludus de Antichristo and the Alsfeld Passion Play.* Of 
all plastic representations, these Strassburg statues are the 
most exquisite.t ‘The Church, with wide flowing mantle, 
the crown on her head, her right hand holding the standard 
of the cross, her left bearing the communion chalice, stands 
erect and dignified at the left side of the portal, looking 
with pride and disdain at her adversary on the opposite 
side. The Synagogue wears neither crown nor mantle; in 
her left hand she holds the table of the Mosaic law turned 
downward, in the right a standard the shaft of which is 
broken in many places; her eyes are bandaged (to indicate 
that she does not see the true light), and her face is turned 
away from the Church and is bent slightly down. In spite 
of her humiliation, she appears more human and lovable 
than her victorious rival. Both figures together are per- 
haps unsurpassed in mediaeval sculpture for grace and 
delicacy of outline; only in the somewhat coquettish twist 
of the hips there is observable a slight indication that the 
highest point in the classic epoch of plastic art has already 
been passed and that the age of extravagant emotion and 
artificiality is setting in. 

Most of Gothic sculpture shows traces of this latter ten- 


* Cf. R. Froning, Das Drama des Mittelalters. Stuttgart, 1892. 

+ K. Franck-Oberaspach, Der Kistler der Ecclesia und Synagoga 
im Strassburger Minster, Diisseldorf, 1905, proves that the artist came 
from Chartres. His direct predecessor was the artist of the Visitatio 
in the North vestibule of Chartres Cathedral. 


31 


dency. The Germanic Museum contains a few Strassburg 
monuments from the west facade which partly at least 
reveal this defect. Particularly forced is the attitude of two 
VIRTUES CRUSHING VicEs [25]. ‘These tortuous, over-elegant 
and courtly ladies, who with a certain fashionable non- 
chalance direct their spears against the heads of the dwarf- 
like vices at their feet, entirely lack the seriousness and 
sincerity of earlier art; and it is hard to see how Hasak, in 
his Geschichte der deutschen Bildhauerkunst im XIII. Jahr- 
hundert,* should prevail upon himself ‘to characterize these 
figures as among the noblest female statues ever produced. 
Simpler and more natural are the figures of a WISE [26] 
and a FoorisH Virein [27] from the same facade. ‘The 
Foolish Virgin in particular is remarkable for the unaffected 
and intense expression of despairing grief. ‘The frequent 
occurrence of the plastic representation of the Wise and 
Foolish Virgins in company with the Heavenly Bridegroom 
and the Prince of the World} suggests that here again, as 
in the case of the representations of the Nativity and the 
Passion, sculpture was strongly influenced by the drama. 
A play of the Wise and Foolish Virgins,{ remarkable for 
intensity and fervor of emotion, was produced at Eisenach 

FAL.C. Dr loo te 

t+ One of the most noteworthy of these is the group in the vestibule 
of Freiburg Cathedral, the Prince of the World in particular being a 
striking parallel to the Strassburg figure. Cf. Moriz-Eichborn, 1. c., 
p. 7 £., 57, 67. 


t Das Spiel von den zehen Jungfrauen, ed. M. Rieger, Germania, X, 
p. 311 ff. 


32 


about the same time that these Strassburg sculptures were 


executed, 7 ¢., at the beginning of the fourteenth century. — 


These Strassburg sculptures complete the survey of the 
best of mediaeval German plastic art as far as the repro- 
ductions of the Germanic Museum permit it. The rest. of 
the collection of sculptures consists of a number of selected 
works of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, 
both in the later Gothic and in the Renaissance manner, 
and of a few conspicuous specimens of Baroque and Neo- 
Classic art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

The fourteenth century is represented by two sepulchral 
monuments only: the funeral slab of a Swiss nobleman, 
Ulrich von Regensberg (+c. 1280), and the tomb of 
Saint Aurelia at St. Emmeran in Ratisbon. The FuNERAL 
SLAB OF ULRICH VON REGENSBERG [28], now in the Swiss 
National Museum, was found imbedded, in 1903, in one 
of the last remnants of the old fortifications of Ziirich, face 
down, serving as the lower shelf of an embrasure of a tower. 
Apparently, it had been carried thither in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, when the interior of the Church of the Barefooted 
Augustinians, its original receptacle, was partly demolished 
and used as building material for secular purposes. ‘Through 
the rounding off of one of its longer sides, so as to conform 
its shape to the round wall of the tower, the slab lost part 
of its inscription. Otherwise it has not suffered from the 
vandalism to which it was subjected. It shows engraved 
upon it, in the manner of the nzello technique, the standing, 


somewhat over life-size figure of a mediaeval nobleman, 


33 


bareheaded, with long curly hair, in tunic and mantle, his 
shoes pointed, pressing the sword with his right hand to 
his right hip, with the left hand drawing the string of his 
mantle forward (a very common gesture of courtly bearing). 
The figure is remarkable for its freedom, gracefulness, and 


sweep of outline. ‘The inscription reads :— 
SEPVLT’ DNS’ VLRIC’ . DE REGENSBERG . QVI . OBIIT A... 


Unquestionably it refers to a member of the baronial family 
of Regensberg, which, in the latter part of the thirteenth 
century and the beginning of the fourteenth, played an 
important part in Ziirich history. 

The ‘Toms or St. AURELIA IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. 
EMMERAN AT RaTIsBon [29] is a good instance of the ten- 
dency of fourteenth century art toward life-likeness of 
expression and individualization of features. In the drap- 
ery there is still something of the noble manner of the thir- 
teenth century. Beautiful is the grape-vine which runs 
parallel to the recumbent figure. Its symbolic meaning is 


finely interpreted by the inscription: 


HIC PIA FLORESCIT AURELIA VIRGO SEPULTA 
QUE PENAS NESCIT CELI DULCEDINE FULTA. — 


The fifteenth century is represented by Jérg Syrlin; 
Master Hans, the author of the tomb of Emperor Ludwig 
at Munich; Niklas Lerch; Adam Kraft; and the unknown 
master of the Niirnberg Madonna. 

JORG SyRLIN’s BisHop’s SEAT IN ULM CATHEDRAL 


[30], mounted at the north wall of the inner octagon of the 


d4 


Museum, is one of the masterpieces of wood carving in 
later Gothic style. It stands in the middle of the entrance 
to the choir of the cathedral, placed with its back against 
an altar. It was finished in 1468, a year before the master 
undertook the work on the equally elaborate choir stalls 
of the same church. ‘The bench of the Bishop’s Chair is 
divided into three seats; the desk in front of these seats, 
decorated with rich foliage, contains at the sides the busts 
of two Sibyls protruding above the edges. ‘They are desig- 
nated as Sibilla Samia and Eritria. Above the bench there 
rises to the height of nearly thirty feet a Gothic canopy, 
surrounded on its base by eight relief busts of Prophets, 
and crowned by three pyramids of partly open tracery, in 
the central one of which there stands the nearly life-size 
figure of Christ as Judge of the World. ‘The richness and 
delicacy of ornamentation of the whole structure are re- 
markable. 

The Toms or Emperor Lupwic THE BaAvaRIAN [31] in 
the Church of Our Lady at Munich, finished about 1468, 
is one of the finest sepulchral monuments of the fifteenth 
century. It represents the emperor enthroned on a richly 
ornamented dais, in his hands sceptre and globe, while two 
angels are holding a canopy over his head. Beneath this 
group, two princes, one of them in a long flowing mantle, 
the other in full armor with his heraldic lion at his side, 
are engaged in animated conversation. This scene has 
been interpreted as representing the reconciliation between 


Duke Ernst of Bavaria and his son Albrecht, the husband 


35 


of the unfortunate Agnes Bernauer, whose tragic death 
had driven the son into rebellion against his father. Of 
the artist of this monument nothing is known except his 
first name, Hans. he Renaissance canopy which now 
nearly hides the tomb proper was completed in 1622, by 
Hans Krumper. 

Of Niklas Lerch of Leyden (+ 1493), the master of the 
Tomb of Emperor Frederick III in the Church of St. 
Stephen at Vienna, the Germanic Museum, possesses only 
two small Busts or a PropHet [31a] AND A SIBYL [32], from 
the former Chancellery at Strassburg, until its destruction 
in 1870 preserved in the Strassburg Library. An unauthen- 
ticated tradition designates these busts as portraits of a 
Count Jacob von Lichtenberg, and his mistress, Barbara 
von Ottenheim, about whom local chronicles contain ro- 
mantic anecdotes.* ‘The designation as Prophet and Sibyl 
seems justified by the frequent juxtaposition of these figures 
in mediaeval art ¢ and by the fantastic head-dress particu- 
larly of the male figure. These heads are unsurpassed 
masterpieces of psychological analysis, and are worthy 
plastic counterparts to the portraits of the Flemish school — 
of painting. 

Adam Kraft’s ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST [33] is perhaps 
the finest of the so-called Stations which the master, from 


* Cf, Charles Gérard, Les artistes de l’ Alsace pendant le Moyen Age 
(Colmar, 1873), II, p. 374 ff., who repeats these anecdotes without 
doubting their authenticity. 

+ Cf. the remarks on the Freiberg Golden Gate and the Ulm Bishop’s 
Chair, swpra, pp. 18 and 34. 


36 


1490 on, carried out to be placed at stated distances from 
each other on the road leading from the city wall of Niirn- 
berg to the cemetery of St. John. Kraft shows himself 
here a3; an artist kindred to Diirer in seriousness, truthful- 
-ness, and moral power. Compared with the Strassburg 
Death of Mary, next to which it is mounted in the Museum, 
this relief has less refinement of outline, less harmony of 
composition. ‘There is a certain grossness in it, an appar- 
ently wilful emphasis laid on the ordinary and common- 
place. But after all, this ordinary and commonplace ex- 
terior serves to make us understand all the more fully the 
eternal human emotions throbbing beneath its surface. As 
in Rembrandt’s paintings, we seem here to have the most 
direct, untrammelled access to the secrets of the heart. ‘The 
speechless woe expressed by Mary’s clutching her son’s 
head and drawing it to her lips in frantic ecstasy, calls up 
before us the deepest tragedy of a mother’s life and stirs 
feelings of profound compassion. 

The RELIEF OF THE Town-WEIGHER [33a], by the same 
master, from the facade of the former Municipal Cus- 
‘ toms-House at Niirnberg, belongs to the year 1497. It is 
remarkable for its directness and a simple humor. ‘The 
Town-Weigher himself stands in the midst of the group, 
conscientiously noting the balancing of the scales. ‘To the 
left, an attendant is in the act of adding another weight; | 
while opposite to him the merchant, whose bales of mer- 
chandise are about to have the duty settled upon them, puts 


his hand reluctantly into his purse. The whole composi- 


37 


tion presents an admirable and graphic scene from German 
burgher life in the fifteenth century. 

In grace and harmony of form no work of fifteenth cen- 
tury sculpture in Germany can be compared with the 
Mater Dororosa [34], from the Germanisches Museum 
at Niirnberg, formerly, but without sufficient reason, attri- 
buted to Veit Stoss.* The figure, carved of oak, probably 
belonged originally to a crucifixion group, such as is seen 
in the Naumburg Rood Screen.t ‘This explains the upward 
turn of the head and the slight leaning forward of the body, 
which is accentuated by the wringing of the hands over the 
breast. She closes one hand over the other in the manner 
observable in the Mary Magdalen of the Strassburg Death 
of Mary,t—a treatment of the hands not uncommon in 
mediaeval art to denote intense emotion. While the whole 
attitude of the figure is expressive of grief, there is only 
subdued sadness in the face. What it loses thereby in 
religious fervor, it gains on the other hand in measured 
beauty. On the whole, this work may well stand as a sym- 
bol of the union of mediaeval and modern feeling charac- 


teristic of the early Renaissance. — 


The sixteenth century is represented by some pieces of 
decorative art, such as a RENAISSANCE DOOR FROM THE 
HIRSCHVOGELSAAL [35], a DRAGON CHANDELIER FROM THE 

* By some critics ascribed to Peter Vischer. Cf. Berthold Daun, 
Peter Vischer und Adam Krajt, Leipzig, 1905, p. 41. 


+ Cf. supra, p. 23. 
t Cf. supra, p. 28. 


38 


Direr House [36], both at Niirnberg,* and the FigurE oF 
A Swiss LAaNDSKNECHT [37] from a fountain at Schaff- 
hausen. ‘The latter is a characteristic production of popu- 
lar Swiss handicraft, — plump, but energetic and full of 
life. It is the work of a certain Jérg Dies, surnamed 
Schwab. ‘The shaft on which it stands bears the date 1524 


and the following inscription: — 


KER IN KER IN 

BIS WOHLGEMUTH 
ICH SCHENK DIR IN 
AN GELD UND GUT. 


The figure was presented to the Museum by the Swiss 


Government. — 


The specimens of plastic art in the highest sense are 
limited to a few works by Hans Briiggemann and Peter 
Vischer and his school. 

The TrrerycH OF SCHLESWIG CATHEDRAL [38] by Hans 
Briiggemann, executed from 1515 to 1521 for the convent 
church of Bordesholm, is one of the greatest masterpieces 
of wood sculpture. It consists of twenty separate compo- 
sitions, mostly from the Passion of Christ, centering in an 
elaborate representation of the Crucifixion. Altogether it 

* The Hirschvogel house, situated near the castle of Nirnberg, 
was the residence of a patrician family of that name. The chandelier 
from Diirer’s house is said to have been designed by the master him- 
self. Both these objects are intended to show how easy it would be 


to reproduce in the Museum the whole interior of a German burgher 
house of that time. 


39 


contains 385 figures. In wealth of imagination, grasp of 
life, and nobility of purpose, this work stands on a plane 
with the best that Diirer ever produced. ‘That Diirer’s 
Little Passion directly influenced it, is beyond question.* 
While the whole altar is brought to view in the Museum by 
a large “Messbild,” three of its scenes are reproduced in 
the original size: the COVENANT BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND 
MELCHISEDEC and the INSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER, 
both Old Testament prefigurations of the Last Supper, 
and the Ecczk Homo. Here, one might say, is reached the 
fulfilment of that which the master of the Naumburg Pas- 
sion + strove for. There is complete mastery of form, 
entire freedom of movement, deepest knowledge of human 
character, intense delight in reproducing the greatest variety 
_ of types of the outer world, and with it all an unshaken faith 
in Holy Writ and spiritual truth. ‘The first of these scenes 
is dominated by the contrast between Abraham, the warrior, 
followed by a retinue bristling in arms, and Melchisedec, 
the priest and man of peace. ‘The second presents a won- 
derful gallery of character types grouped about the central 
figure of Moses. ‘The third is distinguished by the contrast 
between the vulgar rabble and the noble dignity of the suffer- 


ing Saviour. 


* Compare particularly the scenes of the Betrayal and the Har- 
rowing of Hell in both works. A fine analysis of the whole triptych 
is given by Friedrich Eggers, Der Altarschrein der Domkirche in Schles- 
wig. Flensburg, 1866. 

+ Cf. supra, p. 23 f. 


40 


The earliest of Peter Vischer’s works which the Museum 
possesses is the Toms or CounT HERMANN OF HENNEBERG 
AND HIS WIFE [39], in the south aisle, executed probably 
soon after 1507, the date of the latter’s death. On the slab 
are seen, in standing attitude and facing each other, the 
Count, in full armor, holding sword and standard, and his 
wife, in simple, domestic dress, her hands crossed in front 
of her, the left holding the rosary. ‘The lion and dog be- 
neath their feet may be symbolic of worldly sins conquered, 
or they may (more probably) be some heraldic device. 
The drapery shows no such conflict as is seen in the Tomb 
of Henry the Lion.* Affinity to portrait paintings by 
Diirer is unmistakable. ‘The sides of the tomb are elabo- 
rately decorated with biblical figures and saints, among 
them the three Magi and St. Christopher. 

Vischer’s masterpiece, the ‘ToMB oF ST. SEBALD [40], 
in the central octagon, was executed, with the assistance 
of his sons,t from 1508 to 1519, for the Church of St. 
Sebald in Niirnberg. The shrine containing the relies 
of the saint is not Vischer’s work, but goes back to the 
year 1397. Vischer placed it on a rectangular pediment, 
the two long sides of which show four reliefs representing 
scenes from the life of St. Sebald, namely: the transforma- 
tion, by the saint, of stones into bread and of water into 
wine, for the relief of his famished companions; the engulf- 

* Cf. supra, p. 20 f. 


t+ Cf. H. Seeger, Peter Vischer der Jiingere in Beitrdége zur Kunst- 
geschichte N. F., XXIII, p. 81, Leipzig, 1897. 


41 


ment of a pagan blasphemer in a fissure of the earth, and 
his rescue through the intercession of the saint; the trans- 
formation, by the saint, of icicles into burning fire-brands, 
for the relief of the poor cartwright and his family in whose 
hut St. Sebald had found shelter; the restoration to sight of 
the cartwright whose eyes had been put out by the pagan 
tyrant of Niirnberg. ‘The two ends of the pediment con- 
tain in niches, the one a statuette of the saint in pilgrim’s 
garment, with a model of his church in his hand, the other 
a statuette of Peter Vischer himself, in working apron and 
with hammer and chisel in hand. 

Pediment and shrine together are encased in an airy 
structure of Gothic pillars and arches, crowned by three 
cupolas of half Romanesque, half Renaissance design; and 
this casing on its part is profusely decorated with the oreatest 
variety of figures, — animal, mythological, allegorical, and 
human. The whole structure rests on colossal snakes, 
representing the lowest forms of animal life. On the slab 
supporting the pediment there are, at the corners, the sit- 
ting statuettes of Nimrod, Samson, Perseus, and Hercules; 
in the middle spaces between them, the four cardinal vir- 
tues. On the pillars, on a level with the middle part of 
the shrine, there stand, supported by consoles, the somewhat 
larger figures of the twelve Apostles; in line with the points 
of the arches, set against the background of the cupolas, 
the statuettes of twelve Prophets. The central cupola, 
finally, is crowned by a diminutive bambino. Add to this 


a rich profusion of gamboling children, of Tritons, Sirens, 


42 


Satyrs, Fauns, Dolphins, scattered all over the structure, 
and the bewildering wealth of conceptions, the curious mix- 
ture of Christian and Classic, of mediaeval and modern 
ideas, contained in this monument, is perhaps sufficiently 
indicated. It should, however, be pointed out that the 
dominant part given to the figures of the twelve Apostles, 
figures of true sublimity and spiritual power, serves to give 
unity and inner meaning to this varied play of worldly fancy. 

From 1513 on, Peter Vischer, his sons, and his craftsmen 
were at work on the colossal selpuchral monument which 
Emperor Maximilian I erected to his own memory * in 
the Hofkirche at Innsbruck. Of the more than thirty 
statues of which this monument is composed, the Germanic 
Museum possesses three: the kneeling figure of EMPEROR 
MaxtmiiaNn himself [41], modelled probably by Alexander 
Colin of Mecheln, cast in bronze by Luigi del Duca, and 
the standing figures of Kina ArTHuUR [42] and ‘THEODERIC 
[42a], by Peter Vischer. ‘The venerable old Emperor, the 
crown on his head, his long, richly brocaded mantle trailing 
behind him, bends in prayer upon his own tomb, commend- 
ing his soul to the Almighty. King Arthur, steeled from 
head to foot, the chain of the Golden Fleece hanging around 
his neck, stands by the tomb as a knightly death-watch. 


His heavy armor does not seem to weigh upon him, his 


* That sepulchral monuments were carried out during the lifetime 
of the persons to be buried beneath them, was a widely accepted custom 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For the history of the Inns- 
bruck monument ef. David von Schonherr in Jahrbuch der Kunst- 
sammlungen des Allerh. Kaiserhauses. 


43 


attitude is as free and elastic as that of an Olympic athlete; 
mediaeval knighthood seems in him to have assumed the 
harmonious manhood of the Greek xadoxdéyabia. Its com- 
panion figure, Theoderic, although not lacking in pictur- 
esque impressiveness, does not possess the same simple 
repose, and in its somewhat fantastic grandeur seems to 


foreshadow the exaggerated forms of the Baroque period. — 


Baroque and Neo-Classic art of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries is suggested rather than represented 
by a few isolated monuments: Andreas Schliiter’s Eques- 
trian Statue of the Great Elector and three Masks of Dying 
Soldiers, and Johann Georg Schadow’s statue of Frederick 
the Great. In their present largely mediaeval and _ reli- 
gious surroundings these monuments are somewhat out of 
place, and their colossal proportions decidedly demand a 
wider and more impressive background than the present 
temporary Museum building affords. 

The EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF THE GREAT ELECTOR [43], 
in the central octagon, completed between 1698 and 1703, 
is one of the few heroic, and at the same time truthful, his- 
torical monuments which the art of the Baroque period 
has produced. Frederick William, the founder of the 
Prussian monarchy, was a remarkable mixture of autocratic 
arbitrariness and single-minded devotion to the common 
weal. Ruthlessly overriding time-honored class privileges 
and local statutes, he established the sovereignty of the 
modern state in his widely scattered territories, and thus 


welded them together into a political whole. Obstinately 


+4 


adhering to a military absolutism even in matters of civil 
administration, he was also keenly alive to the demands of 
industrial progress and commercial expansion. A Prussian 
from head to foot, zealously maintaining the prerogatives 
of his principality against other states of the Empire, he 
was also the only German prince of his time who deeply 
felt for the national honor, the only one willing to risk his 
own state in defence of Germany. Nothing could bring 
the sturdy greatness of this man or the condition of the 
Prussia of his time more concretely or impressively before 
our eyes than this statue, erected on the Lange Briicke at 
Berlin two decades after his death. Clad in the costume 
of a Roman imperator, the marshal’s staff in his right hand, 
with the left tightly grasping the reins and holding his horse 
in check, his head slightly thrown back so that the aquiline 
nose and the commanding eyes are in full sight, while the 
mane-like hair (an artistic transformation of the seventeenth 
century periwig) flows in bold masses over neck and shoul-. 
ders, he seems the very embodiment of princely absolutism. 
But there is nothing theatrical or vainglorious in this man, 
nothing that savors of a Charles II or a Louis XV. His 
horse is not a showy thing of parade, but a doughty animal 
of tough sinews and heavy limbs; he rides it free and with- 
out stirrups; he knows what he is about; he is carrying his 
destiny in himself; and a victorious future seems to hover 
before his eyes. 

That Schliiter, although in the main a glorifier of princely 
splendor and military triumphs, was by no means insensible 


to the frightful sacrifices and sufferings brought upon the 


“ey 
ia 
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4 

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45 


people by a century of almost incessant war, is proven by 
his colossal Masks or Dy1NG SotpieErs, which, overtopping 
the keystones of the window arches, surround the courtyard 
of the Royal Arsenal at Berlin (begun in 1695). Here the 
horror of war, the tortures of violent death are represented 
with a relentlessness and power which remind one of the 
strongest productions of modern realism. Of all the varie- 
ties of expression which the moment of death stamps upon 
the human face, excruciating agony, convulsive distortion, 
complete exhaustion, quiet resignation, grim defiance, 
heroic exaltation, hardly one is absent. One feels trans- 
ported to a battlefield and lives all its terrors over again. 
The Germanic Museum possesses three of these masks 
[44], in the south wing, two of them showing the features 
of youths still fiercely battling with pain, the third showing 
the torpid features of a bearded old veteran already dead. 
Schadow’s MARBLE STATUE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT 
[45], entrance of the north wing, completed in 1793 for the 
vestibule of the Pommeranian Diet building at Stettin, is 
one of the monuments marking the return, at the end of 
the eighteenth century, to a more natural and harmonious 
style from the exaggerations and artificialities of the Rococo 
age. The face and the attitude of the statue bring 
out well the mental force and keenness of the great king; 
but too much attention is given to minute details of his 
costume and emblems of sovereignty to produce a truly 
monumental effect. It was left to Rauch and to Menzel 
to make the figure of Frederick the Great live in popular 


imagination. 


Ill. GERMAN METAL WORK FROM THE 
TWELFTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 


THIs section consists of two parts: (1) a collection of 
electrotype reproductions of plaquettes, (2) a collection of 
drinking vessels, both for religious and secular use, and of 
other pieces of table service, also in electrotype reproduction. 

Plaquettes and medals were in the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
and seventeenth centuries frequently used as ornaments 
of chests, caskets, vessels and other domestic utensils, and 
were a favorite subject of decorative art. ‘The PLAQUETTES 
oF Prerer FLOTNER * [46], a master of the sixteenth century 
(+ 1546) whose artistic individuality has only recently 
come to be fully understood, are good examples of this 
branch of “Kleinkunst.’”’ ‘They are arranged in three cases 
in the north aisle of the Museum. Flétner shows himself 
here as an artist of great originality, fine sense of form, and 
a wide range of intellectual interests. Remarkable is the 
perspective in his landscapes and architectural backgrounds, 
often a wide vista of hills and rivers, or palaces with colon- 
nades after colonnades, being opened within the compass 
of a few inches. His sense of nature shows itself in the 
way in which he transports actions of biblical or classical 

* Cf. Konrad Lange, Peter Flétner, Ein Bahnbrecher der deutschen 
Renaissance. Berlin, 1897. K. Domanig, Peter Flétner als Plastiker 


und Medailleur. Wien, 1895. F. F. Leitschuh, Flétner-Studien, I. 
Strassburg, 1904. 


47 


tradition to German soil, so that, for instance, he makes 
Abraham receive the three angels in a German farmhouse 
with thatched roof and with the duck-pond close by, or 
lets Venus on a winged chariot sweep through the air over 
a German countryside with mill-wheels turning and castles 
on hill-tops. He is fond of allegorical representations, 
such as Virtues and Vices, the Five Senses, the Muses, the 
Planets; but he knows how to clothe these abstractions 
with concrete life. His interest in the Germanic past is 
shown by a series of plaquettes representing twelve fabulous 
Germanic kings: ‘Tuiscon, Mannus, Wygewon, Heriwon, 
Eusterwon, Marsus, Gambrivius, Suevus, Wandalus, Ario- 
vistus, Arminius, Carolus Magnus.* 

Similar in character, but largely belonging to the seven- 
teenth century, and chiefly consisting of French and Italian 
pieces, is the AMERBACH COLLECTION OF PLAQUETTES, 
from the Museum of Basle. Of particular interest in this 
case [47], in the east transept, are four large plaquettes with 
allegorical representations of the four continents: Europe 
(conceived as a queen in a modified Elisabethan costume), 
Asia, Africa, and America (symbolized by a South American 
Indian in a luxuriant landscape with heaps of gold at his 


side). — 
The collection of fifty-five electrotype reproductions of 
typical German drinking vessels and other pieces of table 


* Cf. Moscherosch’s Gesichte Philanders von Sittewald (1642), in 
Kiirschner’s Deutsche Nationallitteratur, XX XII, p. 140 ff. 


48 


service from the Middle Ages to the Rococo period is a gift 
to the Museum by distinguished citizens of Berlin and 
other German cities. For the bringing together of this 
unique collection from a great number of museums and 
private owners all over Europe, as well as for the super- 
vision of the work of reproducing the individual pieces, the 
Germanic Museum is indebted to Dr. Julius Lessing, the 
director of the Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum at Berlin.* 
The collection is arranged in three cases. The first case 
[48], in the central octagon, contains TyPpES oF CHURCH 
VESSELS AND OF GOBLETS, from the twelfth to the eigh- 
teenth century. A communion chalice from Osnabriick, 
Westphalia, and a communion paten and chalice from the 
monastery of Wilten, Tirol, present types of Romanesque 
church vessels of the twelfth century and the early part of 
the thirteenth. ‘These vessels are equally remarkable for 
the simplicity and dignity of their outline and for the grace 
and richness of their ornamentation. ‘The forms of the 
chalices are compact, yet fully articulated. The round 
knob which in both divides the cup proper from the shaft 
and foot gives an easy purchase for handling it; the decora- 
tions, both arabesques and figures, serve to accentuate and 


enrich the general contour, without in the least forcing 


* Dr. Lessing has put the Museum under further obligation by 
writing a special catalogue of this collection. This catalogue.has 
appeared under the title: Verzeichnis der galvanischen Nachbildungen 
deutschen Silbergeriites, gestijtet aus freiwilligen Betitrdgen dem German- 
ischen Museum des Harvard College. Berlin, 1903. 


49 


themselves into the foreground. ‘The same is true of the 
niello work and the inscriptions profusely covering both 
sides of the paten; one gains the impression that the artist 
could not help pouring out his whole religious feeling and 
thought into this work, and yet knew very well how to re- 
strain himself in giving form to it. 

The more fantastic and ornate forms of Gothic and 
Renaissance goblets are illustrated by a goodly number 
of fine specimens. As _ possessing particular historical 
importance, the following may be singled out: a goblet 
presented in 1462 by King Mathias Corvinus of Hungary 
to the City Council of Vienna; a goblet given, in 1525, as 
a wedding present to Martin Luther by the University of 
Wittenberg; a goblet by the famous Niirnberg silversmith, 
Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508-1588), crowned by the figure of 
Emperor Maximilian II, now in the possession of His 
Majesty the German Emperor. Compared with the round, 
concentric forms of the Romanesque chalices we see in these 
Gothic and Renaissance cups a tendency toward elongation, 
and toward manifold curving and branching out. What 
is hereby lost in unity and simplicity is gained in variety, 
picturesqueness, and stateliness. Particularly effective in 
the Gothic specimens are the embossed bulbs, partly round, 
partly oval, which surround both the body and the cover of 
the goblets, reflecting the light at different angles and pro- 
ducing a fanciful play of color about them, — an effect 
which is still further heightened by the free use of enamel 


on the flat surfaces. 


50 


The second case [49], in the north wing, is entirely 
given over to pieces from the magnificent TABLE SERVICE 
OF THE City or LUNEBURG, one of the old Hanse 
towns. In the year 1600, this treasure consisted of some 
three hundred pieces; in consequence of the ravages of the 
Thirty Years’ War and the destruction of civic independence 
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it dwindled 
down in course of time to thirty-seven, which are now in 
the possession of the Kgl. Kunstgewerbe-Museum at Berlin. 
Seventeen of these are reproduced here. Strikingly gro- 
tesque are the two lions, modifications of the mediaeval 
aquamanile, which were used after the banquet to pour 
water over the hands, while a large basin such as is placed 
in the middle of the case was held underneath. ‘Iwo des- 
sert plates from the fifteenth century, supported by little 
Gothic pillars, are distinguished by purity of form and 
chasteness of ornament; the one shows sitting between the 
pillars the figures of the four Church Fathers, the other the 
symbols of the four Evangelists. ‘Iwo loving cups, belong- 
ing to the sixteenth century, are noteworthy for the religious 
symbolism of their decorative detail. ‘The one shows on 
its base the recumbent figure of the sleeping Jesse, the father 
of David;* from his body there grows a gnarly tree the 
branches of which spread over the cup, holding in their 


* Cf. a similar representation of the pedigree of Christ on the ceil- 
ing of the Church of St. Michael at Hildesheim, a photographic repro- 
duction of which is found on one of the pillars in the north aisle of 
the Museum. 


51 


embrace the relief busts of the royal ancestors of Christ, 
while on the top of the cover there rises from a flower the 
Virgin with the Child. The other cup gives a picture of 
militant Protestantism in the figure of Christ (serving as 
shaft of the bowl) treading upon the dragon of Popery. 
Every one of the pieces of the Liineburg silver service was 
a gift made by a citizen to the town, in commemoration of 
some event of private or public importance. ‘The treasure 
as a whole, therefore, is a striking instance of the spirit of 
civic devotion and pride which made possible the great era 
of German burgherdom in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies. 

The third case [50], in the south wing, contains a some- 
what miscellaneous number of vessels, chiefly PLaTE IN 
Later RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, AND Rococo MANNER. 
Civic art appears here to have been superseded by princely 
art. Splendor and elegance have taken the place of solidity 
and firmness. ‘That, however, even in the courtly art of 
the ancien régime there was not a little of boldness of inven- 
tion and delicacy of execution left, is proven by at least 
one specimen exhibited in this case, the exquisite little 
Nautilus goblet by a Berlin master of the beginning of the 
eighteenth century. 

This whole collection of silverware, illustrating impor- 
tant phases in the development of national culture, is a 
most instructive supplement to the collection of monumen- 
tal sculptures. It gives, besides, striking evidence of the 
high state of efficiency reached by the electrotype technique 


in contemporary Germany. 


HIS description of the Germanic Museum of Har- 

vard University in its present condition has, it is 
hoped, made it clear that even now this Museum contains 
a larger and more methodically selected number of repro- 
ductions of objects illustrating the history of ‘Teutonic 
civilization than any other university museum either in 
America or Europe. Indeed, it may be said that, apart 
from the great and incomparable Germanisches National- 
museum at Niirnberg (which, however, is largely intended 
as a storehouse of original works of the arts and crafts), no 
such attempt even as has been made here has been made 
anywhere else. How desirable it is to carry out on a large 
scale what has been begun so auspiciously, it is hardly 
necessary to point out. Even the objects collected thus 
far require for their proper housing and arrangement a 
building three times the size of the present one. And it 
is clear at first sight that the collection of monumental sculp- . 
tures alone, in order to be fully representative, will have to 
be enlarged by many and important additions. ‘There 
should be included, for instance: for the Romanesque period, 
the golden altar antependium and the Vincentius reliefs 
from the cathedral at Basle, the Hezilo chandelier from 
Hildesheim, the archaic reliefs in the Cathedral of Tréves, 
the choir screens of Halberstadt, the statues from the 
vestibule of Miinster Cathedral, the Braunschweig Lion, 


53 


the tomb of St. Plectrudis in Cologne, the baptismal font 
of Litge, and a full representation of all the Bamberg 
monuments; for the Gothic period, a full representation 
of the sculptures from the west facade of Strassburg Cathe- 
dral, the sculptures from the vestibule of Freiburg Cathedral, 
the Wise and Foolish Virgins of Magdeburg Cathedral, 
sepulchral monuments and altar triptychs of the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries, such as by Pacher and Multscher; 
for the sixteenth century, a full representation of the work 
of Hans Briiggemann, Veit Stoss, Adam Kraft, Peter Vischer, 
Tilmann Riemenschneider; for the time from the seven- 
teenth century on, characteristic examples of Baroque and 
Rococo sculpture, and as full a representation as possible 
of the work of Schadow, Rauch, Rietschel, and their modern 
successors. 

The necessary prerequisite for such a collection would be 
a Hall of Sculpture, large enough to display the different 
periods in separate rooms, and thus to bring to view the 
sequence of the historical development. By means of 
galleries and alcoves, such a museum building, a tentative 
plan of which is given as a frontispiece of this pamphlet, 
would accommodate also the specimens of metal work and 
other forms of craft now in our possession or to be acquired, 
and it would even make possible the enlargement of the 
collection of pre-Karolingian antiquities, so as to give a 
comprehensive conspectus of the conditions of life among 
the various Germanic tribes in the first eight centuries, 


particularly the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Norse- 


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